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October 5, 2012

Training in an unfamiliar place ... the gym

I
generally feel like I can hold my own when it comes to athletic
endeavors. I can run (duh). I can play softball and volleyball. I can
throw a football (a spiral even) and run a route to catch a pass. I can
dribble and shoot a basketball.

But put me in a gym (away from
the cardio machines), and I am completely lost. I don’t know what to do
with weights or how to stretch. I don’t know the proper form. I don’t
know the proper terms. I feel completely out of my element.

So, last night was completely comfortable for me.

Actually it was … well except for that last set of push-ups.

Ack! Uncomfortable arms!

Last night was my first session with Chris from Peak Wellness.
We went through some moves I’ll be doing in Phase 1 of my program. He
was patient. And explained and demonstrated things … many, many times. And he was the reason I was comfortable in an unfamiliar environment.

We
started with foam rolling (I hear great things about this, but I don’t
do it … err, until now – it’s on my plan) and rolling calves with tennis
balls. They both felt awesome in an “ahh, this hurts but it feels so
good” way.

Then, things got serious: push-ups, split squats and
cross leg-ankle rock (without the crossing of the legs and rocking). I
did three sets with eight reps of each (look at me use these new terms).

Feels so good on the calves

Next up: band pullbacks, single-leg dead lifts and side-lying clams. I did three sets of each with 20 reps of the pullbacks (which got surprisingly hard … does pulling on a band sound hard?) and eight reps of the dead lifts and clams.

The fun part of the night: medicine ball slams. I slammed a medicine ball into the ground as many times as I could for 30 seconds. I did three sets with 30 seconds of rest in between.

Now this is fun ... but my arms hurt

We wrapped up with stretching that felt pretty darn good. I was even familiar with one of the stretches.

I do this after every run.

It's pretty cool to know that I have a program made for me. The things I did last night (and will continue to do) all support my goal of becoming a better runner. Do you feel comfortable with weights? Do you know what to do? Do you use a foam roller? Have you ever had a session with a trainer? Do you like push-ups?

Weight rooms scare me. I don't know what to do so I don't do them at all. Can you send this guy my way? Does he have any friends in Cleveland that are willing to help me out? Also, are those Brooks Dyads on your feet?

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I'm Jina, and I live in the Tampa Bay area. I run, and I am slowly trying to get faster. I also like watching sports (especially baseball), playing sports (sand volleyball and softball) and pop culture.